2024

Don’t mess with Texas Quilt (2024), is comprised of Texas themed recycled plastic bags and is motivated by how large corporations and name brands are at the forefront of waste and plastic production. The TXDOT originated the phrase ‘Don’t Mess with Texas” in 1985 to launch a statewide anti-litter campaign. The popularized Texan saying has been manipulated by different political and social groups but originally calls for keeping Texas clean, green, and litter free, contradicting the state’s profit from oil and gas companies. Big and small businesses alike rely on their customers to care for plastic bags after they readily hand them out, which displaces state and corporate responsibility onto the consumer. As a consumer, I transform Texas themed plastic bags into a large, patterned quilt to repurpose the material, to make apparent how wasteful materials are incorporated in almost every purchase, and the state government’s failure to implement additional environmental regulations and address climate change.